Five decades of Indian nephrology: a personal journey.

Impressive accomplishments have been made in Indian nephrology during the last 5 decades. The first renal biopsy performed in 1956 ushered in a new era of modern nephrology practice in India and led to the recognition of nephrology as a distinct specialty. The first hemodialysis facility was established in 1961; presently, there are 950 nephrologists, 850 hospitals equipped with dialysis facilities, and 170 institutions recognized for kidney transplantation, with approximately 3,500 transplantations performed every year. The majority of dialysis units are small minimal-care facilities with fewer than 5 dialysis stations, and more than 85% are in the private sector. Government hospitals provide free treatment to poor patients with chronic kidney disease; however, inadequate funding and lack of health insurance schemes pose serious hurdles in providing renal replacement therapy. In contrast, private/corporate hospitals located in big cities have large units with state-of-the-art dialysis and transplantation facilities, similar to advanced centers of the world, but are accessible to only upper-income groups. Of the estimated 175,000 new patients who develop end-stage renal disease annually, less than 10% are able to gain access to renal replacement therapy. Research in the field of renal diseases has evolved slowly and is focused primarily on tropical conditions. The availability of structured nephrology training programs coupled with excellent diagnostic and therapeutic facilities in some academic institutions and tertiary-care private/corporate hospitals have diminished the need for foreign travel by students, patients, and consultants to a considerable extent. The expansion of therapeutic facilities in India is hampered by only economic constraints, not lack of expertise.

Community-acquired acute kidney injury in Asia.

Asia, the largest continent in the world, is heterogeneous in the ethnic, socioeconomic, and developmental status of its populations. A vast majority of it is poor with no adequate access to modern health care, making an accurate estimation of the nature and extent of acute kidney injury (AKI) difficult. Community-acquired AKI in otherwise healthy individuals is common, and the population developing AKI is younger compared with its counterparts in Europe or North America. The etiologic spectrum varies in different geographic regions of Asia depending on environmental, cultural, and socioeconomic factors. Some of the etiologic factors include AKI in relation to infectious diseases, intravascular hemolysis caused by glucose 6-phosphate dehydrogenase deficiency, poisonings caused by industrial chemicals or copper sulphate, animal venoms, natural medicines, heat stroke, and after complications of pregnancy. Preventive opportunities are missed because of failure to recognize the risk factors and early signs of AKI. Patients often present late for treatment, leading to multi-organ involvement and increased mortality. The exact etiologic diagnosis cannot be established in many instances because of a lack of appropriate laboratory support. Modern methods of renal replacement therapy are not universally available; and intermittent peritoneal dialysis is still widely practiced in many areas.

Nephropathy associated with animal, plant, and chemical toxins in the tropics.

Widespread human exposure to a variety of drugs, chemicals, and biologic products and recent awareness of their toxic manifestations has led to the recognition of toxic nephropathy as an important segment of renal disease in the tropical countries. Tropical nephrotoxins are distinctly different from those seen in the rest of the world and are derived from local fauna and flora or plant and chemical sources. The spectrum of exposure varies from country to country and even from community to community, depending on variations in the distribution of local plants and animal species and prevalent social practices. Acute renal failure (ARF), either alone or in association with liver failure, neurologic abnormalities, metabolic acidosis, disseminated intravascular coagulation, or pulmonary infections is the most common form of presentation. Traditional medicines prescribed by witch doctors (traditional healers) constitute a special class of nephrotoxins among several communities in Africa and Asia. The prevalence of nephropathy caused by traditional medicines is directly related to a combination of ignorance, poverty, lack of medical facilities, lax legislation, and widespread belief in indigenous systems of medicine in rural areas. These medicines are a mix of herbs and unknown chemicals administered orally or as enemas. Clustering of cases after exposure to a particular agent suggests the possibility of a toxic insult. Common animal nephrotoxins are venoms of viper snakes, sea snakes, stinging insects, and raw gallbladder and bile of carp and sheep. Botanical nephrotoxins are encountered both in common edible plants (djenkol beans, mushrooms) and medicinal herbs (impila, cat's claw). Mistaken identification of medicinal herbs by untrained workers and even deliberate trials of toxic substitutes derived from plants frequently lead to renal disease, the most commonly reported being the Chinese herbal nephropathy. Nephrotoxicity caused by chemicals can be secondary to accidental occupational exposure in industrial work places (eg, chromic acid), or after suicidal or homicidal use (eg, copper sulphate, ethylene dibromide, ethylene glycol). Late presentation and multiorgan dysfunction are associated with a high mortality. A high index of suspicion, careful history taking, and an awareness of local practices are essential for proper diagnosis and management of toxic nephropathies in the tropics.

The practice of dialysis in the developing countries.

There are few organized data on the practice of dialysis in developing countries, mostly because of a lack of renal registries. The economic, human, and technical resources required for long-term dialysis make it a major economical and political challenge. Most countries do not have not well-formed policies for treatment of end-stage renal disease. The dialysis facilities are grossly inadequate, and there are no reimbursement schemes to fund long-term dialysis. Hemodialysis units are mostly in the private sector and consist of small numbers of refurbished machines. Water treatment is frequently suboptimal, and this problem has led to a number of complications. Hepatitis B and C infections are widespread in dialysis units. Continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis (CAPD) seems to be the ideal dialysis option for patients living in remote areas, but high costs preclude its widespread usage. The Mexican experience suggests that even after it becomes affordable, CAPD needs to be used judiciously. Inadequate dialysis, infections, and malnutrition account for the high mortality among the dialysis population in developing countries. Acute peritoneal dialysis using rigid stylet-based catheters is the main form of dialysis in remote areas. Pediatric dialysis units are almost nonexistent. A significant lack of resources exists in developing countries, making the provision of highly technical and expensive care like dialysis a challenge.

Posttransplant infections in the tropical countries.

Over half of all renal transplant recipients in the tropical countries develop a serious infection at some point in the posttransplant period and 20% to 40% of them succumb to these infections. Many of these infections are endemic to the region. A multitude of factors including unhygienic conditions, hot and humid climate, late presentation, lack of knowledge about the spectrum of organisms in these areas, scanty diagnostic techniques, and high cost of lifesaving antimicrobial agents contribute to this dismal outcome. Tuberculosis is observed in 10% to 15% of transplant recipients. Pleuropulmonary disease is most frequent, but the commonly employed tests are seldom helpful in the diagnosis. Bronchoalveolar lavage is very sensitive in early detection of this infection and allows timely institution of specific therapy. Hepatitis virus infections are generally acquired before transplant, and viral replication is accelerated under the effect of immunosuppressive therapy leading to chronic liver disease. Cytomegalovirus (CMV) disease has shown a fourfold increase after introduction of cyclosporine to the immunosuppressive regimes at our center. Coinfection with other bacteria or fungi is frequent in CMV-infected allograft recipients. Opportunistic fungal infections are seen in less than 10% of allograft recipients, but this figure is likely an underestimate. The frequently encountered fungal infections include Candida, Aspergillus, Cryptococcus, and Mucor. Fungal infections carried a high mortality of over 65% at our center. The protean manifestations of the opportunistic infections and nonavailability of sensitive diagnostic tests in most centers in the underdeveloped countries often delay the diagnosis and institution of therapy.